JSO Life Skills Training – Nairobi

Don Bosco Tech Africa (DBTA) organized a one-week Life Skills Training workshop for fifteen (15) Job Service Officers (JSOs) from Salesian TVET Centres in the Africa-Madagascar Region. The main objective of the workshop was to equip the JSOs with the knowledge, attitude and skills that are needed in order to offer quality of life and descent employment for the vulnerable youth in the region, as envisaged by the DBTA’s JSO Quality Manual.

The training was held at Don Bosco Youth Educational Services (DBYES) in Karen, Nairobi from 16^th  to 20^th August 2021. Among the training facilitators were: Ms. NAIDOO Fawzia, Mr. Ashley Paul John and Mr. FOTOH Paul from the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE). The workshop employed various learning methods including: lectures, practical sessions, group discussions and group projects.

DBTA believes that through life skills education, the young generation can be equipped with foundational skills necessary for transitioning them to more productive adulthood.

Speaking during the official opening of the workshop, Fr. TJ George, Executive Director, DBTA, reminded participants about the first part of the training that was conducted in June 2019 in Lagos, Nigeria and that DBTA was planning to have the second part of the training in 2020 but due to the covid-19 pandemic, this did not happen.

Fr. George TJ said “One of the outcomes of the Labour Market Survey conducted by DBTA in 2018-2019 was on the importance of life skills in TVET training, and DBTA is spearheading it.” He also noted that the African Union (AU) has recognized the role played by DBTA, especially in the area of life skills, thus DBTA was invited to be part of AU life skills cluster.

He also thanked the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) for their close collaboration with DBTA, referring to the training manual which was developed by CIE, and that they have allowed DBTA to translate the manual into French and Portuguese languages.

Mr. Innocent Mutala, the Job Service Officer from Uganda, spoke on behalf the participants highlighting the lesson learnt throughout the workshop. He took cognizance of new topics that had been introduced including; Gender Based Violence; Covid-19; Protection of personal information (data); and Methodology and Techniques of conducting a training.

On his part, Br. John Njuguna, Deputy Director, DBTA said “Life skills are generally applied in the context of personal and communal development; life skills has to have a relationship with the person one is working with.” He further acknowledged that graduates from the Salesian TVET Centres are the most sought-after in the job market due to the technical and life skills they receive.

At the end of this week-long workshop, participants were issued with certificates for actively participating and completing the training sessions.